To the editor,
When I first heard of the Gibran Academy coming to Park Slope, I was excited. I’m familiar with Gibran and any child who gets to study his works is truly priviledged.
Gibran inspired many, dared to challenge modern thought and was a complete visionary. Would anyone dare close a Da Vinci school? Or what about an Einstein one?
Anti-academy feeling is driven by Arab-phobia. But the Arabphobes should never forget what Arabs have contributed to OUR civilization, such as architecture, philosophy, language and calligraphy, music (such as the harp, lyre, zither, drum, tambourine, flute, oboe and reed instruments), astronomy, medicine, navigation and geography, horticulture, crafts (like glassware, ceramics, textile weaves, detailed mosaics, tiles, carvings and paintings) and mathematics.
The Moors ruled Spain from 711 to 1492. Who do you think were guiding the boats of Christopher Columbus? Arabs.
Without the Arab contributions to our civilization, we would not exist as a civilized world.
Josh Cohen, Park Slope
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To the editor,
One letter writer to The Brooklyn Paper says that no one wanted the Khalil Gibran Academy in Boerum Hill. That’s not true. I live in Boerum Hill and am thrilled to have the school on my street.
This neighborhood has been beautifully Arab since the 1920s, and it still retains an Arab character. Think of Sahadi’s, Rashid Records, all the wonderful groceries and all the restaurants here.
Downtown Brooklyn has two Arab churches, three mosques, countless Arab-owned businesses and is home to the Arab-American Family Support Center. The Arabness of this neighborhood is part of what drew me, an Arab-American, back to the neighborhood that my great grandparents knew and loved.
I believe the Gibran Academy will be a wonderful addition to our neighborhood.
Dave Hall, Boerum Hill
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To the editor,
Although I have plenty of choice words of my own concerning how ineptly the Khalil Gibran International Academy was announced by the city and the disgraceful press coverage (“Timeline of a debacle,” May 12), I went online to gather a few more thoughtful ones from the person for whom this school is named.
“Safeguarding the rights of others is the most noble and beautiful end of a human being. I believe in you, and I believe in your destiny. I believe that you are contributors to this new civilization. I believe that you have inherited from your forefathers an ancient dream, a song, a prophecy, which you can proudly lay as a gift of gratitude upon the lap of America. I believe that you can say to the Founders of this great nation, ‘Here I am, a youth, a young tree, whose roots were plucked from the hills of Lebanon, yet am I deeply rooted here, and I will be fruitful.’”
Those words were from Khalil Gibran.
Jerry Krase, Park Slope
Bagel battle joined
To the editor,
A local businessman expanded into Brooklyn using a name that made potential customers cringe, “Arena Bagels” (“Fight over Arena … Bagels!” The Brooklyn Angle, May 19).
But the issue at hand isn’t your columnist’s assertion that Atlantic Yards opponents bullied a business owner. The issue is this: there’s really nothing worse for business than ticking off potential customers before they walk through the door.
And your columnist erred when he equated the Arena Bagels issue with the Brooklyn Brewery boycott — which is still on as far as I am concerned.
Brewery owner Steve Hindy took a public position of support for Bruce Ratner’s project. As a business owner, he didn’t have to; and as a passionate consumer of microbrews, I still choose not to support his position with my hard-earned dollars.
Lumi Michelle Rolley, Park Slope
The writer is producer of the Web site, NoLandGrab.org
Thank Ratner!
To the editor,
In your May 12 issue, you published photos of the Flatbush Avenue buildings that are being torn down by Bruce Ratner (“Yassky to city: Hold Ratner accountable”). Seeing those buildings coming down made me so happy. That blight should have been torn down 50 years ago, and Ratner should be given a medal.
The sooner this area is rebuilt the better. It is amusing that the people who are against the rebuilding of this area are the new arrivals. I’ve lived in Brooklyn all my life — 66 years and going strong — and sent my kids to school here.
Alvin Pankin, Downtown
Simcha’s bill is good
To the editor,
I commend your actions to prevent and discourage littering (“Law would destroy my livelihood,” The Brooklyn Angle, May 5). But why should flyers, papers, etc, be allowed to be tossed in my front yard? The wet plastic covering is unsafe and also advertises that a private home is empty or unoccupied, a signal for home break-ins.
Throwing paper in my front yard is hardly the “exchange of ideas and information” that your columnist wisely champions.
John Murray, Bay Ridge
Witness this crime
To the editor,
As usual, the media paints the Jehovah’s Witnesses in the worst possible light.
In your story about the Watchtower Society’s plans to sell many of its Brooklyn Heights buildings (“Selloff,” May 12), you wrote that “the Witnesses stand to make a lot of filthy lucre from the sale of these buildings.”
Having once stayed overnight in the Standish Arms before the gut renovation was done by the Witnesses, I can tell you that it was a “roach hotel.” The walls and ceilings literally were crawling with the filthy creatures.
After the departure of the previous occupants, the Witnesses redid everything and made it habitable by clean people. It remains a “Class A” building.
Would the media have preferred for us to have left the buildings as the slums they once were, so that they could then criticize us as having been slum-lords, doing nothing toward neighborhood improvement?
Willard Parker, West Haven, Conn.
